I like lists.

One of the lists I keep is a log of my gas purchases. I used to think it would be a pain, but once it became a habit to open my notepad app when I pull up to the pump and take a couple of numbers down (mileage, gas price, number of gallons I’d be buying), it was easy.

I was at the pump last week, the day after almost removing my thumb with a machete (I’m dramatizing, but I did cut my thumb on a machete), and, looking down at my superglued mitt, I had the idea of keeping a log of my injuries.

I considered the idea, only jest at first, but realized it could have a couple of uses, so did start, right then and there.

What it looks like

Pictured above is the beginnings of this list. It has three columns.. the injury, when it occurred (indicated by an “unhappy face”), and when it got better (smiley face). Simple.

When I get hurt, I put it in. When an injury, bruise, or other wound heals, I just mark it in the log accordingly.

Why the hell would anyone do this?

Because I’m old and anal, obviously.

Seriously, though, I have noticed a few more injuries lately, and slower recovery times, or so I think. By tracking the injuries I’m getting, and their healing time I hope to accomplish these things:

• Dispel, if I’m wrong, any false notion of my increasing injury, and slowing healing time by trending them over time

• Keep myself realistic, when injured, about how long it might keep me off the mat (as compared with similar injuries in the past)

• Learn from my mistakes to stay off certain injuries longer next time, when I come back to training too soon and re-injure myself

Realism

We’ll see how long I keep this log.

Maybe it’s a new thing that I keep doing for a long time, and I learn a lot! Maybe this is one of those lists, like those ones wayyyy down at the bottom of my app, that I start but don’t follow up with or remember to erase, like that phone list of fellow employees from my job in 2008.

If I’ve discovered a useful tidbit, I’ll let you know here in a little while, after we see.

Let me know below if you have ideas to improve this, have tried this, or would like to. If you think I should add OCD to the list, you can let me know that too.